"Um... actually, not really." Lu Sisi whispered, "A little bit, but, but..."
Suddenly, the girl’s expression changed, and she quickly shook her head and said, "It’s not what you think!! I didn’t do anything to betray you!"
"Don’t be nervous, I’m not overthinking it." Chen Yan chuckled lightly.
In this regard, Chen Yan was absolutely confident — with Lu Sisi’s personality and temper, and it was obvious to anyone that this girl liked him wholeheartedly, with no ulterior motives. She would never do anything to betray him.
"It’s just that there are some things, my own things... um, I’m not ready to tell you yet." Lu Sisi whispered, "I..."
"What is it? Can’t you tell me?"
"Um, it’s just not the right time, I also want to give you a surprise..." Lu Sisi shook her head.
"Alright, since it’s a surprise, I won’t ask anymore." Chen Yan exhaled, reached out to touch the girl’s soft face, and said gently, "I’m not a control freak who’s overpossessive. Apart from fundamental issues, you don’t have to tell me everything—if you want to say, I’m willing to listen, if you don’t want to say, you don’t have to."
"I will tell you... after I complete the surprise!"
"Okay, I’ll wait for your surprise." Chen Yan smiled, watching Lu Sisi’s delicate alchemy, suddenly feeling a bit greedy, he leaned over and kissed the girl’s lips again.
This time he was a bit more forceful than the first.
Lu Sisi wrapped her arms around Chen Yan’s waist, leaning on him for a while. When a cold night wind blew by, and Lu Sisi shivered noticeably, Chen Yan hurriedly let go of her.
"Alright, go upstairs quickly. I’ve brought you a gift from Japan."
Lu Sisi blinked at Chen Yan, "The gift doesn’t matter, just tell me the moment you get back."
Kochi Prefecture, Tosa County.
Dachuan Village was a sparsely populated area in Tosa County—in fact, the entire Kochi Prefecture in Japan was sparsely populated.
Located in the southern part of Japan’s Shikoku Island, it’s primarily mountainous with few plains.
The main products are mountain goods and seafood, and there’s not much farmland.
In this era, all developed countries around the world are urbanizing, and Japan’s population is flowing towards big cities. Kochi Prefecture has long been declining.
Though the streets in Dachuan Village are narrow, the basic infrastructure is quite good—the Wa people often have this stubbornly earnest and competitive temperament when it comes to doing things.
Six or seven months ago, a six to seven level earthquake occurred in Kochi Prefecture, and small-scale, low-intensity tsunamis appeared in coastal areas.
After several months of recovery, apart from the coastal areas, some inland villages and towns have also resumed their usual climate.
Dachuan Village, located in the mountains, like many rural areas in Japan, is sparsely populated, with scattered residences. It has a quiet, tranquil atmosphere, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the big city.
In a mountain forest, a winding road snakes through the woods, twisting and turning, finally arriving at a courtyard.
The gate of the courtyard is very ancient, its porch quite old, with stone lamp posts on either side and carved auspicious beast bases.
It looks like a temple, but it’s not a Buddhist temple; rather, it’s dedicated to the native Divine Teachings of Japan.
A convoy of six or seven business cars passed through the forest road and finally stopped at this temple’s entrance. Then a group of people got out of the car, each wearing long tunics and cloth shoes—this was a group from Yunzong Zen Meditation Academy on their study tour.
Chen Yan stood in front of the car, watching the students who were intrigued by the surroundings, then he looked up at the grand gate of the temple.
The architectural style of the temple was very ancient—Chen Yan wasn’t an architecture major, so he couldn’t tell which era of Japanese architecture this was.
But the walls weren’t high, and the stone carvings were relatively small, which matched his stereotyped impression of Japan.
The overall scale felt a bit small and delicate, rather than grandiose and magnificent, but was very refined in its details.
After the vehicles stopped in the open space in front of the temple, Chuyi followed beside Chen Yan, curiously looking around, then whispered to Chen Yan, "Brother, is this the temple of the Japanese devils? It looks pretty small. I could flip over that wall with one somersault."
Chen Yan glanced at Chuyi and whispered, "Don’t call them Japanese devils when we’re on their turf."
Chen Yan thought for a moment and laughed, "Your term isn’t wrong, but when on their turf, it’s better to keep it to yourself and not say it out loud."
Saying this, he looked back and saw Chu Keqing surrounded by several students. Standing next to Chu Keqing and chatting with her was Mr. Zhou, one of the students.
This person’s status was the highest among this Zen Meditation Class—Mr. Zhou was the owner and chairman of a pharmaceutical company, which was a publicly traded company. But it’s said that Mr. Zhou had already retired behind the scenes, and the company was managed by his eldest son.
Given his age, extensive experience, and vast network, even though the students in this Zen Meditation Class had impressive backgrounds, they all showed deference to him—at least on the surface.
At this moment, Mr. Zhou stood beside Chu Keqing, chatting with a smile, projecting the image of having the highest status among them.
Chen Yan couldn’t be bothered with such socializing scenes and just walked towards the temple.